


A Night Out

by MissRogue113



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Mention of Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25456021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissRogue113/pseuds/MissRogue113
Summary: Reno catches Aerith on one of her off days and takes her to his favorite diner to make her feel better.
Relationships: Aerith/Reno
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	A Night Out

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place before Zack’s death. Aerith is 19, Reno is 25.

Aerith ran out of the screaming woman’s house not stopping until she reached the church. She collapsed on the floor by her flowers and started sobbing, her chest aching with loneliness. She could feel them reaching out to her, trying to comfort her. The only person she wanted was Zack. She knew he wasn’t gone or she would’ve sensed it, but she wasn’t able to contact him for a couple of years now. Wherever he was, it wasn’t good and she had a feeling it was only a matter of time. 

She sobbed and sobbed until she ran out of energy then she curled up on the wood floor and just laid there. She didn’t know how much time passed when she heard the door open, but the sun was still out. She sat up and quickly tried to make herself not look like she’d been crying as she heard the light footsteps approach. 

Reno strolled up to her with his stun baton in his hand and two SOLDIERs behind him. “Hey kid,” he casually said. 

“Dammit Reno, I’m not in the mood for your shit today,” she said as she brought her knees to her chest and turned away from him. 

Reno was caught off guard. “Are you okay?” he asked. 

“Like you care,” she spat back. 

He looked to the ground and briefly closed his eyes, able to see she was clearly not okay. He waved off the two SOLDIERs, non-verbally telling them to wait outside, and they obeyed. Putting away his stun baton, Reno quietly sat down near her. Knowing she was hurt and angry, he spoke softly. “I do care,” he said. “I’ll listen to you. If you want to tell me what happened.” 

Aerith could hear genuine concern in his voice. She stared at the flowers who encouraged her to open herself to him.

“This kid,” she said quietly. “He was 13. Diagnosed with a terminal illness. His mother came to me, begging me to heal him…” tears streamed down her cheeks and she buried her face in her knees. 

“You couldn’t save him,” Reno’s voice was quiet and calm. She shook her head. 

“She called me horrible things,” Aerith said through her tears. “She called me a fake and screamed at me, I just couldn’t…” Aerith wasn’t able to control the hard sobbing that came out of her. She felt an arm around her and then her head was on his chest. Everything was a blur as she sobbed on Reno’s immaculate black suit. 

“I’m alone,” she choked out. “I’m so alone and people think I’m some sort of miracle worker, but I’m not.” 

Reno swallowed hard, trying to keep his own tears from spilling. He knows how it feels to be alone, to not trust anyone. He put his chin on her head and rubbed her back. She squeezed him and he hugged her tighter. He chose his words carefully, “I know that I don’t know what it’s like to be in your position,” he started. “But… your loneliness, your anger and pain… I know how that feels. I was very alone for the majority of my life. I was angry and jealous at people who had families. People who accepted them for who they were. People who had support. I barely had any of that.” 

Aerith’s sobbing had calmed down, she was surprised at how comforting Reno was. She leaned more of her weight onto him. Reno reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a small cloth. “Here,” he said. Aerith took the cloth and wiped away her tears. 

“Are you hungry?” he asked. 

Aerith smirked, anticipating his reaction to her response. “Why, you wanna take me on a date?” 

Reno shut his eyes. “No, I- no- that’s not-,” he said, lightly blushing. 

“You know I’m joking, dumbass,” she playfully pushed him away. “Yes I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten since this morning, I don’t know what time it is.” 

“There’s a diner up top Rude and I go to all the time. You wanna go?” 

“Yeah, let’s go,” she said. 

Aerith had never been to any restaurant like this in her life before. Everything was so clean, there was a jukebox and a couple of arcade games on the side and a bar area in the front. All the customers here seemed like they worked for Shinra. They sat down at the booth and the waiter brought the menus. He watched her as she scanned through it with wide eyes and smiled to himself remembering how he was the exact same way the first time he came in here. 

“You want everything, don’t you?” He said. She looked up at him with a blank expression. “I was the same. Their pizza’s really good, but I don’t eat a lot so I end up taking half of it home. Burgers are good as well.” 

Aerith kept going between the burgers and one of the sandwiches, deciding on a burger since she couldn’t remember the last time she had one. Her adoptive mother could make an amazing pizza or a sandwich anytime she wanted, but burgers were rare and expensive down in the slums. 

“I’m gonna have that giant cheeseburger,” she said, not realizing the huge grin she had on her face. 

“Okay,” he said. 

The two took their orders and Aerith looked out the window for a moment. “Hey,” she said. “Do you happen to know where Zack is?” 

“Zack… the SOLDIER?” 

“Yeah, he was First Class.” 

“No, I don’t. He was reported missing a while ago. I don’t even know if he’s…” Reno didn’t want to finish the sentence, but Aerith shook her head. 

“He isn’t. I would’ve felt it.” 

“I really don’t know. I’m sorry.” 

“It’s alright.” Aerith sounded optimistic despite knowing he was probably in trouble. “Where’s Rude by the way? You two are inseparable.” 

“He got stuck with Tseng for an assignment.” 

“So you got bored and came to visit me?” 

“I…” Reno looked off to the side, not knowing how to respond. “I mean, we’re friends, right?” 

“Yeah, you keep trying to drag me back to being Hojo’s lab rat.” 

“I never asked you to come back. Rude and Tseng might try to convince you, but I  _ know  _ how gross that man is. Even the boss hates him.” 

“Tseng?” 

“No, Rufus. He doesn’t care about any of this but the orders are coming from his father.” Reno put his chin on his hand and sipped his drink.

“So what, you just come say hi, leave, then go back and say I refused to come back to the lab?” 

“Pretty much.”

The waiter brought out Aerith and Reno’s burgers. “Wow, this looks amazing, thank you!” Aerith said to the waiter. 

“Let me know if you need anything else,” they said. 

Aerith didn’t know where to begin. She honestly had never seen a burger presented like this in her life. She munched on a few fries then grabbed her burger. Reno watched her as she bit into it and savored the taste. 

“This is so good!” She said with her mouth completely full. Reno chuckled at the sight. “What?” 

“Nothing, you’re just like me is all. I wasn’t expecting that.” 

“Listen, I might be special, but I’m not some fucking princess,” she said as she swallowed her food. 

Reno laughed out loud with his burger in his hands, “You really just said ‘fuck’.” 

“And no one will believe you,” she said, taking another giant bite out of her burger. 

The two ate not caring how messy or unproper they were and they didn’t care if there were a few glances their way. 

“Hey, is it alright if I get a dessert for my mom? She loves cheesecake,” Aerith said, a little embarrassed. She really didn’t have enough money on her and she didn’t want to take advantage of Reno’s kindness. 

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Reno said. Aerith hopped up to the counter and asked one of the waiters for a slice of cheesecake to go and came back. Reno sat back in the booth, having eaten a little too much than he was used to. 

“How’re the flowers?” He asked, wanting to keep talking to her. 

“They’re fine! I’m still selling them, people seem to really like them. Sometimes the kids will come by the church to play and I’ll give them a few. I once tried giving one to Tseng and he just stared at it and turned away and I managed to put it in his hair when he wasn’t paying attention. Hope he’s not still mad at me,” she said, smiling, almost giggling at the memory.

“Tseng is way too uptight. He’s such a grammar freak too, even with text messages. Like I get you need to sound professional on paper, but calm down dude, it’s just a text.” 

“Send him messages with lots of typos on purpose.” 

“We do. Rufus and I do at least.” 

“Does he get mad?” 

“He’ll just glare at me for most of the day.” Reno suddenly snorted as a memory came to his mind. “He was trying to give a presentation to us once and forgot how to switch his monitor, Rufus and I were trying so hard not to laugh.” 

The waiter brought out Aerith’s to-go cheesecake and the check. Reno checked over the receipt and handed his card to the waiter. Aerith took a peek at the cheesecake. 

“Oh, this looks so good,” she said. “I would have a bite if I wasn’t so full.” 

“I know, I’m barely gonna be able to move.” 

The waiter brought back Reno’s card and with one last sip of their drinks, the two headed out. 

“What time is it?” Aerith asked, a bit worried since it had gotten dark. 

“Uhh,” Reno pulled out his phone, “Eight.” 

“Okay that’s fine. Ten to ten-thirty is when I usually get home at the latest.” 

Reno walked with Aerith to her house. He wanted to make sure she was safe and he also wanted to let her mom know he was with her for most of the evening. Aerith opened up the door, letting Reno in first. 

“Mom, I’m home!” She said. 

Elmyra came from the kitchen, “Hey sweetie! You were with Reno all night?” 

“Yeah, I’ll tell you what happened later, but I was feeling really bad and he took me to get some food. I got something for you!” Aerith said and handed her the box. Elmyra opened it up and was greeted with a beautiful slice of cheesecake with strawberry drizzle on top. 

“Aww, thank you baby!” Elmyra gave Aerith a tight hug then turned to Reno, knowing he was the one who bought it. “Thank you too.” 

Reno bowed his head slightly. “It’s alright! It’s always good to see you both,” he said. 

“Here lemmie walk you out,” Aerith said as Reno started towards the door. 

“Reno,” she said as they walked to her garden, “Really… thank you.” He smiled and pulled her in for a tight hug. They stayed in their embrace for a bit then pulled away at the same time. 

Reno pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Aerith. “In case you ever need me for anything, if you need to talk, or… anything,” he said. 

Aerith opened up the paper to see a number written on it. “I can’t-,” she started to hand it back to him when he grabbed her hands and pushed them back to her chest. 

“You can and you will. I told you I care about you and I mean it. Call me if you need to talk, okay?” Aerith nodded. 

“Promise?” 

“I promise.” Aerith said and bent down to pluck a yellow flower. “Here. For you to give to Rude,” she held it out to him and he didn’t know what to respond. 

“Uhh…” 

Aerith rolled her eyes, “It’s so obvious, just ask him out already.” 

“You’re a little gremlin, y’know that?” he said, taking the flower. 

“You’re one to talk,” she said, fake punching him. 

He smiled and pulled her in for another hug, “Goodnight, kid. Remember you’re not alone.” 

As Reno headed out, Aerith looked down at the paper with his number on it and brought it to her chest. She looked up to the steel sky and went back into her house. 


End file.
